Handmade ceramics by Elizabeth Paley
Welcome to GeekPots. I create wheel-thrown functional and decorative ceramics, inspired by math, physics, kitchen gadgets, and the occasional chicken.
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A life-long pianist, I find working with clay similar to practicing a musical instrument: both processes invite one to develop attention to form and detail, to balance technique with improvisation, and to discover a personal creative voice.
Alongside music, my background in physics and math informs my art. Physics governs the relationships between the forms and surfaces of my zigzag and swoosh pots. I cut or swipe patterns into slipped cylinders; these expand into captivating organic designs as I stretch the pots from the inside. Friction torques vertical lines into spirals, parallel swooshes drift apart or scrunch together, and coarse canyons emerge between smooth-slipped plateaus. The transformations are different every time, functions of variables both within and beyond my control: initial patterns, depths of cuts, slopes of curves, plasticity of clay bodies, magnitude of expansion, directional spin of the wheel. Occasionally, fortuitous scars appear: an un-wedged air bubble pops and flattens to hug the pot’s surface, or a narrow fault line cracks open as the clay stretches to its limits. I enjoy how this rough evidence of material and process juxtaposes with well-practiced symmetry.
My swooshed surfaces are made using cake decorating combs. Sometimes I apply sodium silicate (a desiccant) before swooshing, which yields a crackle effect.
I once spent a beautiful afternoon perusing kitchen supply shops in Meran, Italy. After spending at least 20 minutes staring at a gadget-laden wall, I was approached by a shopkeeper who asked if I needed assistance. I did my best auf Deutsch to explain that I was a potter seeking tools for surface decoration. I suspect he thought I was a little crazy, but I did eventually leave with a snazzy new ravioli wheel to add to my collection.
My dad was a math professor at the University of Illinois, so I grew up wandering around Altgeld Hall looking at vintage plaster Platonic solids stored in antique oak curio cabinets. Much of my art makes me think about math and physics, from the swoosh and zigzag pots above to the more explicitly mathy Klein bottles, nested spheroids, Cadogan teapot, π plate, and salt rocks below.
Having thrown chickens off the hump for well over a decade, I can confidently say that the egg comes first. My chickens started off as rattles, but evolved into well-tempered ocarinas, which is what happens when you have a PhD in Music Theory and a BS in Physics–so these birds are the culmination of decades of musical training and rigorous academic study. Click here to listen to a chickarina in action; click here for fingering charts. For an explanation of the penguins, click here; and for herons, here.
The ceramic hole (to quote Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology) “adds itself, it is a surplus, a plenitude enriching another plenitude, the fullest measure of presence . . . But the supplement supplements. It adds only to replace . . . if it fills, it is as if one fills a void . . . its place is assigned in the structure by the mark of an emptiness.”
CERAMICS RESUME
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Music Theory, minor Linguistics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1998
B.M. Piano Performance, summa cum laude, University of Arizona, Tucson, 1991
M.S. Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, 1989
B.S. Physics, summa cum laude, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1987
Ceramics classes taken at the Durham Arts Council, Claymakers, and Penland School of Crafts
Workshops taken with Alan Bennett, John Britt, Leonora Coleman, Susan Feagin, Marty Fielding, Denny Gerwin, Jamie Kirkpatrick, Jim Lawton, Kent McLaughlin, Vince Pitelka, Deborah Schwartzkopf, Gay Smith, and Carolyn Wyland
RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
Independent Studio Artist, 2010-present
Instructor, Claymakers, Durham, NC, 2007-present
SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITS
Claymakers, Circle of Influence, two-person show, Durham, NC, January 17-March 14, 2020
Carol Woods Retirement Community, solo 3D show, Chapel Hill, NC, April 13-May 18, 2018
JURIED EXHIBITS
Small Favors, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA, April 29-July 2, 2023
Mathematical Art Exhibition, 2023 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Boston, MA, January 4-7, 2023
Winter Warmers Cup Show, Good Earth Pottery, Bellingham, WA, January 1-31, 2023
30th Strictly Functional Pottery National, Lancaster, PA, September 17-November 5, 2022 (see Awards below)
Sculpture in the Garden, North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC, September 12-December 5, 2021
Small Favors, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA, March 6-April 25, 2021
28th Strictly Functional Pottery National, online, September 26-October 31, 2020
Sculpture in the Garden, North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC, September 16-December 6, 2020
Mathematical Art Exhibition, 2019 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Baltimore, MD, January 16-19, 2019 (see Awards below)
25th Strictly Functional Pottery National, Lancaster, PA, September 16-October 21, 2017 (see Awards below)
Plough Gallery, Tea: The Ritual and the Art, Tifton, GA, April 15-June 1, 2017
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Cup: The Intimate Object XII, online, October 1-Novermber 4, 2016
24th Strictly Functional Pottery National, Lancaster, PA, September 17-October 22, 2016 (see Awards below)
Claymakers, Claybody: The Human Form in Ceramic Art, Durham, NC, March 18-May 13, 2016
Bridges 2015 international conference on math/art intersections, Exhibit, Baltimore, MD, July 28-August 1, 2015
Towson University Center for the Fine Arts Gallery, Exhibit, Towson, MD, June 26-July 25, 2015
Bridges 2012 international conference on math/art intersections, Exhibit, Towson, MD, July 25-29, 2012
Towson University Center for the Fine Arts Gallery, Bridges: Connections between Art and Mathematics, Towson, MD, June 30-July 29, 2012
INVITED EXHIBITS
Cedar Creek Gallery, National Teapot Show XII, Creedmoor, NC, May 20-September 10, 2023
Cedar Creek Gallery, CUPful, Creedmoor, NC, January 14-February 26, 2023
Claymakers, Community Showcase, Durham, NC, 12 November-17 December, 2021
Cedar Creek Gallery, CUPful, Creedmoor, NC, January 16-February 28, 2021
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Cup: The Intimate Object XVI, Gainesville, FL, October 3-November 1, 2020
ClayAKAR, Yunomi Invitational 2020, Iowa City, IA, June 12-June 26, 2020
Cedar Creek Gallery, National Teapot Show XI, Creedmoor, NC, May 16-September 7, 2020
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Exquisite Forms II, Gainesville, FL, February 22-March 20, 2020
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Cup: The Intimate Object XV, Gainesville, FL, October 1-November 1, 2019
Claymakers, Steinfest 2019, Durham, NC, September 27-November 10, 2019
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Cup: The Intimate Object XIV, Gainesville, FL, October 6-November 20, 2018
Claymakers, Steinfest 2018, Durham, NC, September 27-November 10, 2018
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Exquisite Forms, online, February 17-March 16, 2018
Cedar Creek Gallery, CUPful, Creedmoor, NC, January 13-February 26, 2018
Greenhill Center for NC Art, Winter Show 2017, Greensboro, NC, December 3, 2017-January 13, 2018
Charlie Cummings Gallery, Cup: The Intimate Object XIII, online, October 7-November 3, 2017
Claymakers, Steinfest 2017, Durham, NC, September 29-November 11, 2017
Cedar Creek Gallery, National Teapot Show X, Creedmoor, NC, May 19-September 5, 2017
FRANK Gallery, Pots from the Piedmont, Chapel Hill, NC, October 9-November 30, 2016
Claymakers, Steinfest 2016, Durham, NC, September 30-November 14, 2016
Cedar Creek Gallery, CUPful, Creedmoor, NC, January 9-February 21, 2016
Perkinson Art Gallery, Millikin University, Just Use It, Decatur, IL, December 1-10, 2015
Cinema Gallery, Use It: A Show of Functional Ceramics, Urbana, IL, June 21-Augst 29, 2015
Claymakers, Steinfest 2015, Durham, NC, September 25-November 15, 2015
Mathematics of Science, Art, Industry, and Culture (www.mosaicmathart.org), traveling exhibit, June 2014-September 2016
Claymakers, Steinfest 2014, Durham, NC, October 3-November 21, 2014
Baltimore Clayworks, Southern Hospitality, Baltimore, MD, 11 January-22 February 2014
Claymakers, Steinzeugkrug: Present Day Interpretations, Durham, NC, October 4-November 16, 2013
Claymakers, Line and Rhythm, Durham, NC, November 16, 2012-January 12, 2013
Cinema Gallery, All Steamed Up Invitational Teapot Show, Urbana, IL, December 3, 2011-January 21, 2012
Claymakers, Season of Lights, Durham, NC, November 18, 2011-January 14, 2012
COLLABORATIVE INSTALLATIONS
MATHEMALCHEMY
A collaborative mixed-media art installation, Mathemalchemy celebrates the joy, creativity, and beauty of mathematics
Exhibits
See https://mathemalchemy.org/events/ for exhibit locations
THE POTTERS’ PENGUIN PROJECT
A community art project to make the impacts of global warming on distant places more immediately tangible to makers and viewers, the Potters’ Penguin Project energized nearly 600 makers to create over 2,000 handmade clay penguins, and raised over $5,000 to support environmental advocacy non-profits.
Founder and curator, 2016-present
Claymakers Gallery, Durham, NC, January 10-February 11, 2017 (1,973 penguins)
North Carolina State University Crafts Center gallery, Raleigh, NC, February 20-April 28, 2017 (600+ penguins)
Greensboro Science Center, Greensboro, NC, April 25-May 20, 2017 (200+ penguins)
Maker Events:
North Carolina Science Festival, lectures and public Make-a-Penguin events, North Carolina State University, sponsored by Research Triangle MRSEC, April 8, 2017
Multiple public/independent school Make-a-Penguin workshops, Durham, NC, 2016-2017
Multiple public Make-a-Penguin events, Claymakers, Durham, NC, 2016
Press:
“From Our Supporters,” Earthjustice Quarterly Magazine, Spring 2019
“Potters’ Penguin Project,” INDY Week, January 9, 2017
AWARDS
30th Strictly Functional Pottery National, Jean Lehman Form and Function Award, 2022
Mathematical Art Exhibition, Joint Mathematics Meetings, Best Textile, Sculpture, or Other Medium, 2019
25th Strictly Functional Pottery National, Purchase Award sponsored by The John Ground Collection, 2017
24th Strictly Functional Pottery National, Purchase Award sponsored by The George School, 2016
Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist Grant, Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC, 2014
PUBLICATIONS
“Light and Shadow.” Pottery Making Illustrated (November/ December 2021).
“Raiding the Kitchen.” Pottery Making Illustrated (July/August 2021).
PROCEEDINGS
PUBLISHED IMAGES
American Mathematical Society, 2020 Calendar of Mathematical Imagery, cover image and October
Ceramics Monthly, “Exposure” (Charlie Cummings Gallery Cup: The Intimate Object), November 2017
500 Teapots Volume 2, Lark Books, 2013
500 Vases, Lark Books, 2010
2019 Joint Mathematics Meetings Exhibition of Mathematical Art, 2019
Bridges 2015 Art Exhibition Catalog, 2015
Bridges 2012 Art Exhibition Catalog, 2012
SERVICE
Planning Committee, Durham Pottery Tour, November 2016-present
Claymakers Arts Community Inc., Durham, NC:
– Board Member, 2019-2022
– Past-President, 2015
– President, Founding Board, 2011-2014; assisted with reorganization of Claymakers into 501(c)(3) nonprofit
The article “Ars Mathemalchemica: From Math to Art and Back Again” is a playful narrative romp through the Mathemalchemy project. Co-authored by Susan Goldstine, Henry Segerman, and myself, it appears in the August 2022 issue of Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Mathemalchemy made its public debut at the National Academy of the Sciences in …
See the previous blog post for an explanation of why these photos are here. Will any of these images end up on Mathemalchemy’s Wikipedia page? Tune in soon to find out…
Mathemalchemy now has its very own page in Wikipedia, thanks to the efforts of some of the Mathemalchemists and a Wikipedia editor. I am the copyright holder of one of the photos the authors want to include in the article, and Wikipedia has very specific rules about how copyright permission to use photos is granted. One of …